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In Busy Silicon Valley, Protein Powder Is in Demand

nytimes.com

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Re: In Busy Silicon Valley, Protein Powder Is in Demand

#41

Post by akurilin »

gmays wrote: post #23

From 2008-2009 when I was still in the Marine Corps I spent a year in Iraq operating on small teams while embedded with the Iraqi security forces. We'd go out on 6-9 man teams and stay in the field for 1-2 weeks at a time. Since a lot of what we did was clearing operating we were constantly on the move, so we needed something quick that packed a lot of calories since it was hard to keep weight on. What I found that w…

From what I understand, they're not planning to go into the low-carb-high-protein market, as there is already a giant protein powder industry out there to cover that kind of need.

I'd love to be wrong though, as I usually do 40P/25C/35F and I would LOVE to not have to spend a hours every weekend doing meal-prep, having to plan just how much food I need delivered, stuffing everything into tuppowerare etc. Would love to do something more enjoyable and useful with that time.

Maybe I'm in a bubble, but I feel like there's an unmet need for healthy (arguably, powdered food is likely not in this category), quickly available, hassle free and nutrition-plan specific meals out there. I can't find anybody who addresses this need though. Idea for YC2016, please? :)

Re: In Busy Silicon Valley, Protein Powder Is in Demand

#42

Post by brainburn »

I've been eating our own type of soylent for the past year and a half now. 2 per day, morning and noon, and 'normal' dinner. The type I eat is ketogenic (meaning low carb).

I have to conclude that I feel better than ever before. Where previously I ate very monotonic (and one could argue, I still do), I did not get all the nutrients I should. I now do, and feel pretty damn good.

I do feel soylent is the future, but there are many varieties.

In my circles, the whole movement has sparked a lot of discussion, and many people close to me are now eating all kinds of soylent, homemade, joylent, jake shake etc.

Let's hope that someday the whole 'fat is bad' concept leaves the mainstream, it does not seem to do a lot of good.

Btw the variety I eat costs below 5 euros per day, with 2100 calories. And I think it tastes pretty great. Only wins.

Re: In Busy Silicon Valley, Protein Powder Is in Demand

#43

Post by dxhdr »

lsdafjklsd wrote: post #35

I'm pretty obese at 275lbs, and binging on food is my drug of choice. Soylent has been invaluable in my addiction management. Because food is something you can't quit cold turkey, I have to try and focus on eating for nutrition instead of emotional support. Soylent allows me to get nutrition fast and in a non-food manner when my blood sugar is low and I can't reliably make a sensible food choice. I drink 500 calories…

Lack of convenience is a major hurdle to eating healthy, however I'm not convinced that a highly-processed food supplement like Soylent is the best way to do it.

I have found that pre-packaged salads from Trader Joes are a decent tradeoff between price, quality, and convenience, at least for fast lunches and dinners. They are well portioned and easy to supplement with other ingredients like additional meat. Plus (most) salads have the benefit of low sugars and carbs which after a while will help cut cravings for less healthy foods altogether. The downside is that they don't keep for very long so you still have to make a trip to the store every few days.

Re: In Busy Silicon Valley, Protein Powder Is in Demand

#44

Post by misiogames »

IMHO if cooking or ordering food is "taking time away" then, well, you need to evaluate the whole picture, maybe you need to improve in other areas, plus, you are not going to get to me to sign a check serving soylent as dinner, sorry! Dinner is more than a meal.

Re: In Busy Silicon Valley, Protein Powder Is in Demand

#45

Post by vasco »

lsdafjklsd wrote: post #35

I'm pretty obese at 275lbs, and binging on food is my drug of choice. Soylent has been invaluable in my addiction management. Because food is something you can't quit cold turkey, I have to try and focus on eating for nutrition instead of emotional support. Soylent allows me to get nutrition fast and in a non-food manner when my blood sugar is low and I can't reliably make a sensible food choice. I drink 500 calories…

Liquid foods are pretty terrible in regards to appetite control since you don't feel full for quite as much time as with solid food. Something to consider once your maintenance calories drop and you have a harder time losing weight.

Re: In Busy Silicon Valley, Protein Powder Is in Demand

#46

Post by douche »

mingmecca wrote: post #40

I gave Soylent a try when it first came out. The initial formulation gave me incredible gastro-intestinal distress, and it was so painful that I could barely sleep at night. Apparently they heard this sort of feedback from a bunch of people and changed their mixture so it wasn't as hard on the digestive tract. I haven't tried it though, so I don't know if it'd work for me. Honestly, I'm a bit scared to do so. Oh the…

I've been trying the 1.4 mix this month. It's maybe a little more fiber than I had been eating, but I haven't experienced any gas or discomfort.

Re: In Busy Silicon Valley, Protein Powder Is in Demand

#47

Post by Varcht »

dxhdr wrote: post #43
lsdafjklsd wrote: post #35

I'm pretty obese at 275lbs, and binging on food is my drug of choice. Soylent has been invaluable in my addiction management. Because food is something you can't quit cold turkey, I have to try and focus on eating for nutrition instead of emotional support. Soylent allows me to get nutrition fast and in a non-food manner when my blood sugar is low and I can't reliably make a sensible food choice. I drink 500 calories…

Lack of convenience is a major hurdle to eating healthy, however I'm not convinced that a highly-processed food supplement like Soylent is the best way to do it. I have found that pre-packaged salads from Trader Joes are a decent tradeoff between price, quality, and convenience, at least for fast lunches and dinners. They are well portioned and easy to supplement with other ingredients like additional meat. Plus (mos…

I've been meaning to give Soylent a try, currently I am in a pretty bad fast food habit. It's just so convenient! I really don't feel like standing in line after a day at work. Why aren't there any healthy fast food chains? Seems like there would be plenty of demand, is it just too expensive? Too hard to keep things fresh? Or preparation takes too long? I don't require too much, just a drive through Subway would be a great start.

Re: In Busy Silicon Valley, Protein Powder Is in Demand

#48

Post by jjoonathan »

misiogames wrote: post #44

IMHO if cooking or ordering food is "taking time away" then, well, you need to evaluate the whole picture, maybe you need to improve in other areas, plus, you are not going to get to me to sign a check serving soylent as dinner, sorry! Dinner is more than a meal.

It's one thing to say you would rather spend time chatting and enjoying food (so would I), but it's quite another to say something is wrong with someone who disagrees.

Re: In Busy Silicon Valley, Protein Powder Is in Demand

#49

Post by tormeh »

Varcht wrote: post #47
dxhdr wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lack of convenience is a major hurdle to eating healthy, however I'm not convinced that a highly-processed food supplement like Soylent is the best way to do it. I have found that pre-packaged salads from Trader Joes are a decent tradeoff between price, quality, and convenience, at least for fast lunches and dinners. They are well portioned and easy to supplement with other ingredients like additional meat. Plus (mos…

I've been meaning to give Soylent a try, currently I am in a pretty bad fast food habit. It's just so convenient! I really don't feel like standing in line after a day at work. Why aren't there any healthy fast food chains? Seems like there would be plenty of demand, is it just too expensive? Too hard to keep things fresh? Or preparation takes too long? I don't require too much, just a drive through Subway would be a…

Thought the same thing. I have no idea why there's none.

Re: In Busy Silicon Valley, Protein Powder Is in Demand

#50

Post by patcheudor »

in_cahoots wrote: post #38
patcheudor wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found myself using Soylent as a "plan B" and drinking it when I'd normally skip a meal. Within the first two weeks of drinking Soylent I gained five pounds. I've never gained five pounds in the course of two weeks. It turns out skipping those meals was keeping my weight stable. I'm now careful to skip the meals I normally would and now use Soylent to replace the occasional meal I'd otherwise eat.

5 pounds in two weeks comes out to around 1,250 extra calories a day, or 2.5 Soylent meals. Are you sure you were using the correct serving sizes?

Each pouch (one days worth) is 4 servings at 500 calories each so it's not that difficult to over eat when using Soylent as a supplement.
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